50 Cent uses guns to sell records, the authors of Enter the Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Sam Colt to 50 Cent use the rapper to hype their book, and I used the man "that got shot nine times" to get you to click on this article.

That's because 50 Cent, the latest controversial face of gangster rap, is way more 'clickable' than a headline that highlights ways to end gun violence. It's also way more easier to blame 50 Cent and other 'hard-core' rappers for youth gun violence than it is to look at the bigger issues, say authors Rodrigo Bascuñán and Christian Pearce.

"The simple fact is that the majority of the interviews that we've done so far have focused on rap music instead of the first whole section of the book -- which is about gun manufacturers and the people that actually make guns," Bascuñán told CTV.ca.

While studies have shown links between aggression and hip-hop, Bascuñán says the media and politicians who focus on artists like 50 Cent have the situation all wrong.

"We're losing the debate entirely at that point," said Bascuñán.

While 50 Cent may have gotten you here -- or made you pick up their book -- listening to his album is probably not going to, you guessed it, make you go out and shoot someone.

In fact, if you ask Bascuñán and Pearce, who also run Canadian hip-hop magazine Pound, they'll tell you that gun violence is the result of the 'Babylon System' -- societies and governments that systemically promote violence.

It's the old status quo response from hip-hop 'heads': the music just reflects the realities of the streets.

And while it may be boring to hear again, Bascuñán and Pearce are determined to prove they're right. They say hip-hop has become a common scapegoat because it is an easy target since it reflects youth and black culture.

"Anyone that sincerely believes that hip-hop is the reason for gun violence needs to go to Oakland, Baltimore, New Orleans and stay a week there and then come back and tell me that hip-hop is the problem... there's no way they could because you'd realize what the conditions are in some of these communities," said Bascuñán.

"Music is not the problem, it's so far from the problem... music is sometimes the only thing that makes these people connected at all to the world and lets them know that there's other people around that are experiencing the same oppression that they go through."

Programs for kids are needed

Instead of targeting artists, more community programs and funding are necessary to help curb violence in the inner city, say Bascuñán and Pearce.

"If it was just hip-hop we'd be seeing gun violence all over Japan, all over Europe because hip-hop is worldwide," said Pearce.

"Reinvest in kids, give them opportunities to exercise their energies in positive ways... you've got to have opportunities for them to talk to somebody."

At times, the book reads as a disjointed analysis jumping from U.S. gun legislation to quotes from rappers to sketchy first-hand accounts of gun dealers on the streets of Vancouver.

And if you're reading this book solely because you like hip-hop you might find yourself skipping through the never-ending analysis in search of the interviews with the rappers.

But in their attempt to pick apart gun culture, the authors do manage to flood the book with an exhaustive look at the gun industry and the people who actually make the weapons.

"Gun manufacturers reflected the reality of all business in the modern day which is that their conscience doesn't play a part in making decisions, it's really just about money... they could be making tables or glasses or cookies, they just happen to make guns," said Bascuñán.

Add war-hungry governments into the mix and you have a culture fixated with guns, say the pair.

"When some of the world's most powerful people are so absolutely corrupt, so ready to go wild with their guns in order to fatten their pockets, it's really hard to convince intelligent youth that hip-hop is a serious threat to our collective safety," concludes the book.

The authors end their book by quoting one rapper as saying the "most blatant form of gangsterism" is the recruitment and deployment of soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Although it's not listed as the main cause, the book does get around to placing some responsibility on the hip-hop community.

"I think hip-hop is reckless when it comes to guns. I think there is a reality there and I think that (it) needs to be talked about," Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli is quoted as saying in the book.

"But when it becomes a way to have street cred or a way to add flavour to your rhyme -- which it has become in a lot of instances -- then hip-hop is being very reckless and very irresponsible in how we talk about guns and gun violence and how it really effects (sic) the community."

Bascuñán says he just wants rappers to "be more responsible and sincere about what they're doing" by not clouding reality and fantasy with "irresponsible messages."

Both men hope that might force the media and politicians to lose their scapegoat and address the real issues.